Beneath the Wraps

           I have often wondered if someone were to accept blame then what?   Someone accepting blame for a fire isn’t going to put it out.   Someone accepting blame for falling asleep at the wheel isn’t going to bring back the victims who lost their jobs because they were stranded on the freeway or lost their lives due to neglect.   If someone accepted blame for the coronavirus won’t make it go away.   What happens when someone accepts responsibility?   Then what?             Our country/state has tried lockdown and stay-at-home orders           Mask orders           Reopening in phases           Reclosing           Stepping back Four supposed stages.   Has anyone ever made it pa...

These are the signs I pass in the morning when I take Jaime and her friend out to the blueberry farm. Between Country Market to Ray’s: Between Ray’s and Horse Bridge:  Horse Bridge:    Riverside:  Just before Riverside merges with South Myrtle I pass these three spaced out social distantly: About half way to the farm:   On the return:  I pass at least 4 of these:  And at least two of these: Before I hit the fork between Division and Riverside:  Either road will take me home though the signs are different if I choose to go through town.  But here is what I see typically:  And now I am home.  Wasn’t that fun?

from  https://www.stephanh.com/2018/07/03/helicopter-role-forest-fires/             The river beds are already low           Now there’s a fire in Days Creek           I heard the helicopters this morning           I don’t hear them anymore           Could that mean that the fire is out?           Now if we could just get this pandemic fire Under control Helicopter passed again before I added the pictures.  Days Creek is further away so it takes them longer.   

           There is still a mask war and I suppose will be for as long as necessary.   Missionaries are required to wear masks while in public.   It is an inspired requirement .   Our ward mission leader is against wearing a mask – which puzzles me for a couple of reasons – well maybe more than a couple, but I will mention only two.           His son married the daughter of his next door neighbor who is avid about wearing masks and keeping social distances as her husband’s health is failing and has been for some time. They share the same grandchildren and yet seem insensitive to the restrictions that his in-laws would like to enforce. I’m not saying that he is insensitive.   I, of course, don’t have all of the facts.   I’m just saying that the action seems insensitive.            Who are we to not honor a requirement that the missionaries t...

                Recently someone posted that the churches were closed in California – again.   It had been posted in the World Wide Unified Group – which has become a support group among various faiths originally to join in a fast and now to continue with prayers. I’m sure there was disappointment as she created her post – probably even more when the administrators shut off the ability to receive comments.   I   understand why they did it – to avoid confrontation and politics.   There are several cases of outbreaks due to large indoor gatherings.   Church just happens to be one of those indoor gatherings that isn’t immune to the virus.   These are just three sites of many here , here and here                Church does not have to be a large gathering of people sitting on pews inside of a building.   We can worship within our hearts. We c...

             I have not unfriended or blocked anyone due to political views although I have unfollowed people due to their ignorant and often offensive memes.   My eldest son is the biggest culprit.   But then I never have shared in his sense of humor (or lack thereof).   I have family members who have unfriended him. He is not the same person he was at one time.   He has forgotten that he lost a wife and has developed into quite an insensitive person. Masks are now mandatory in at least half the states – some are resorting back to lockdown.   I have heard that only USA has made the coronavirus and mask requirement a political issue.   For the most part I have viewed the anti mask wearers or Trump supporters as “me” people.   They abuse their freedoms at the cost of other people.   They are bullies.   Not all of them are Republican.   Not all supporters are Democrats.   What does that even mean t...

What is up with the wind blowing like it’s Halloween I don’t recall ever hearing the wind howl since we have moved to Oregon I half expected to see snow this morning though it has been warming up to boiling What a bizarre thought that it might snow I didn’t fully believe it would but then again it is 2020.   Why not? It is, afterall, fire season.

https://www.guideposts.org/faith-and-prayer/7-trending-faith-and-prayer-topics              I have noticed that there are several prayers that are answered in a way that we would not choose to be answered in that way.   Remember this post? For some of us the answer comes with such devastation that we may not even recognize it as an answer until several months or years down the road.   Allow me to provide some examples.             I remember a sister in my home ward who was always on the go.   It seems she spent many hours driving, serving, nurturing, what have you . . . constantly assisting others but never herself.   She had a desire to spend more time for scripture study and prayed about it.   When she threw out her back initially, I don’t think she viewed it as an answer to her prayers.   She had to stay off her feet for several weeks which gave her the time to ...

          Jenna and I had the day off yesterday.   She had been at a sleepover and I did not have to drive at all.   It will be her last hoorah – although she doesn’t know it yet.   Governor Brown has set the state back to mandatory mask wearing and no indoor gatherings of more than ten.           People complain.   It doesn’t matter what decision is made, someone gets upset.   Seems like even more lawsuits are being filed – against the governors, against the federal government . . .           One lawsuit is to keep students from other countries from having to return to their home countries.   I am in agreement that if they want to be here they should have that choice.   I think a citizen from another country would not even want to be in the U.S. right now.   Surely there are safer countries than this one. ...